Efficiency and mechanism of pretreatment on water supply in reservoirs of Yellow River by subsurface constructed wetlands

In order to improve the source water quality of drinking water and mitigate the load of drinking water treatment plant, a pilot test was conducted with integrated horizontal flow constructed wetlands to pretreat the water supply in the reservoirs of Yellow River. Resuhs show that under the hydraulic loading rate of 4 m^3/（ m^2 · d）, the average removal rates of chemical oxygen demand （COD）, total nitrogen （TN）, ammonium nitrogen （ NH4 ^＋ - N）, nitrate nitrogen （ NO3 ^- - N）, nitrite - nitrogen （ NO2^ - - N） and total phosphorus （TP） in the horizontal flow constructed wetlands are 49. 68% , 53.01%, 48.48%, 53.61% , 62. 57% and 49. 56%, re- spectively. The study on purifying mechanism of the constructed wetlands indicates that the disposal of contamination by subsurface wetlands is the combined actions of physical chemistry, plants and microorganism.